Winter Romance
by Mischel
Summary: In a terrible winter, the knights of Camelot get separated by a snow storm, leaving Arthur and Merlin together alone. Merlin is cold and Arthur wants to warm him up. How does he decide to do it? - Set in S4, Merthur, cold!Merlin and protective!Arthur, cute ;)


**I was just going home yesterday, and it was really cold outside. And for a second I thought if only someone would hug me to warm me up and then suddenly I wished it was Arthur and suddenly I was Merlin and that's exactly where this whole idea started :)**

**Warning: As you probably know, I'm not native speaker, so I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes or misplaced words or anything wrong in this story.**

**Disclaimer: IDOM**

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><p><span><strong>WINTER ROMANCE<br>****By Mischel**

**.**

It was cold. Really really cold. It was freezing. That is one of first things you would notice if you'd be outside the city walls right now. It was almost December, but the snow was already anywhere you looked. It was all over the forests, meadows and the whole Camelot was whiter than usual. The animals were sleeping or hidden somewhere safe, where they could wait until the horrible winter was over.

But that didn't mean that the knights of Camelot could just hide and sleep too. No. Unlike the animals and many citizens, the knights of the round table still had to perform their duty to the King and to the whole kingdom. And that's why Gwaine, Percival, Elyan and Leon were in the forest now, in the late afternoon. Of course Arthur, the king, was there too, he didn't want to stay in the castle, it was too boring for him there. And where you can see Arthur, there naturally follows Merlin, his servant.

It was already about three hours that they were outside. They didn't take the horses with them, it was supposed to be just a quick patrol to make sure the city was safe for the night. But since they were moving slowly because of the snow, it took much longer than they expected and wanted.

"When I'm back," Gwaine said into the cold air, "in Camelot, I'm gonna drink the whole night until I don't even see straight."

"Of course you will," Percival responded and laughed. "It wouldn't even be you, if you didn't," a white puff of cold air flew from his mouth.

"You know what?" Gwaine smiled and looked back at Percival, "You should definitely go with me, mate," he said and inhaled deeply the cold air.

"Nah," Percival answered and started walking again, "I think I'll miss this one, Gwaine, apart from you, I want to know what the day is tomorrow morning." The others laughed a bit and it was quiet for a while again. They were almost back in Camelot, they were about to reach the main entrance just under one hour.

"Maybe I should take Merlin with me then," Gwaine cut off the silence again. "What do you say about it, mate?" He grinned and looked ahead, where Merlin was going next to Arthur.

"Sorry, Gwaine, but I'm not much the 'tavern' kind of a man," Merlin smiled and looked back at Gwaine, walking a few metres behind him.

"Really?" Arthur suddenly spoke, "Gaius told me a different story when I couldn't find you the whole day." The knights laughed.

"You just weren't looking for me long enough." Merlin laughed. "You can't even find your own socks without me." They all laughed at that and waited what Arthur was going to say to that.

"They were in the bloody shelf in the closet, you idiot, who would look for them in there?"

"It was a shelf for socks, you royal prat!" Merlin laughed. "I told you myself you would find them there in the morning!"

"Well, it's not my fault that it's so hard to listen to your annoying voice, you clotpole, I have to listen to it all the time!"

"Hey, clotpole is my word, the last time I used it you said it wasn't even a word and now you use it?"

"Merlin?" Arthur stopped and looked at Merlin. Merlin looked at him. "Shut up." Merlin just groaned and rolled his eyes while the others laughed even more. One wouldn't even say they were the king of Camelot and his servant.

"They fight like an old married couple," Elyan whispered to Leon while Merlin and Arthur's banter kept going. Leon smiled at that and Percival did too when he heard Elyan from the back.

"True," Leon said. "They're a good friends you can tell just from the first look."

"I'm not with you guys very long, but I never expected the king to be so..." Elyan started.

"So what?" Leon asked.

"So friendly... to his servants and maids. I mean, all of those kings out there I have met... they're not even close to what character Arthur is. He really is a good king."

"I know," Leon smiled. "He's much better than Uther ever was," Leon said. "But don't tell him that," he hurriedly added. He served Uther many years, he shouldn't talk about him in that way, he didn't want to dishonor him.

"What was Uther like?" Elyan suddenly asked. Leon looked at Arthur and Merlin, they were smiling at each other.

"He was less... understanding, I guess." He said then. But suddenly the wind started blowing much more than before and everything was white. They literally couldn't see a thing right in front of them. Gwaine and Percival were gone, far away enough so they couldn't see them. Arthur and Merlin were gone too, and the air started to hurt their faces, how freezing it was.

"Arthur!" Leon called but he heard no answer. "Merlin! Gwaine!" He yelled again, but he had to cover his face with his hands and cloak, because the snow was blinding him. After a few horrible minutes of cold hell, the wind finally stopped. But when Leon looked around him, all he could see was white landscape. No Merlin, no knights, no nothing. It was just him.

He was lost.

xoXOXox

He had no idea where he was or how did he get there, but it was still freezing. He felt as if his whole body was thrown into the cold lake and he was still there, because he didn't even know where was up and where down. He laughed a bit. He, Arthur Pendragon, was probably lost somewhere and he didn't even know how to get home. The one who was supposed to lead armies into battles, was lost in a forest, near his own castle.

He opened his eyes and tried to sit up, but he couldn't and he almost started to panic when he realized that. That was until he heard someone groan and stir on him. He smiled when he found out the one who was lying on him had dark hair and red scarf around his neck.

"Merlin?" He said. Merlin lifted his head a little and rolled on Arthur's stomach to see into his face. He stopped immediately when he realized he was about two inches far from Arthur's nose and he blushed a bit.

"Arthur?" He smiled. Arthur just rolled his eyes.

"Could you please get your lazy butt off of me?" He groaned. When Merlin realized he was lying right on Arthur, with his nose almost gouging his eye out, he blushed even more and sat up.

"Sorry, sire," he mumbled and stood up. Then he helped Arthur to get up too and brushed the annoying snow off of him and then off of Arthur. "Are we lost?" He asked then.

"Wow, Merlin," Arthur smiled and looked at him, pretending to be amazed. "I've never even hoped you could actually know what is happening around you. Yes, we're lost!" He growled.

"Okay, no need to be so grumpy," Merlin said. "We just have to find a way back, that's all."

"Yes, that's all, I know," Arthur said. "But do you think we'd be still here if it was that easy?" Arthur looked at Merlin. "C'mon, we have to move, at least to warm ourselves up." And so they began to walk. First they just walked in whatever direction they wanted until Arthur managed to find out where the North was. Then he simply turned the right way and kept going.

They were going for about just ten minutes, when Arthur noticed that Merlin was shivering. And not just slightly, he was trembling pretty bad and his lips were almost blue. His teeth were chattering loudly. After another five minutes Arthur gave up and turned to his friend.

"Merlin," he said, not finishing his sentence.

"Y-Yesss?" Merlin asked, his blue eyes meeting Arthur's.

"You're cold." Arthur said. It wasn't a question. It was s statement, because it was obvious that Merlin was freezing.

"Yeah an-nd?" Merlin asked. "There's pre-pret-ty much no-nothing y-you ca-can do-do about it." Merlin looked at Arthur again. Arthur didn't say anything, he just stood there, staring at Merlin as if he was enchanted. He didn't know what was it, but in that moment, he could've sworn that Merlin looked... quite adorable. He was like a lost kitten. His tangled dark hair, bright blue eyes and cold red cheekbones just did it themselves, it wasn't Arthur's fault. But for that moment Arthur just couldn't help but think how beautiful Merlin in fact was.

"Erm... Ar-Arthur?" Merlin asked, a bit confused why wasn't Arthur saying anything. But then Arthur suddenly 'unfroze' from his state of staring into Merlin's eyes and he moved forward.

"Maybe," Arthur said quietly. "Maybe there is something I can do." And by the time he said that, he was already reaching a hand to Merlin's back and pulling him into his strong arms.

"Ar... Arthur?" Merlin mumbled against Arthur's shoulder.

"Just shut up and appreciate what I'm doing Merlin, I'm not doing this ever again and if you ever tell about this to anyone, you know what I can do, I'm the king," Arthur said, but kept Merlin in his arms anyway.

"Got it," Merlin laughed and finally wrapped his arms around Arthur's back and squeezed. He was really cold and with Arthur hugging him it wasn't any better, but if they could just stay like that a couple of minutes, it could warm him up a bit eventually. And he certainly didn't want to be the one who pulls away, he kinda enjoyed to be so close to Arthur.

When Arthur felt Merlin's cold hands on his back, he smiled and closed his eyes. He didn't even remember when he last hugged someone. He had no idea when or who it was, but right there and right then, he knew it was the best feeling in the world. Being so close to someone so you can hear their heartbeat. It was amazing to actually feel with your own body someone else's existence. And after a minute or two, he realized he loved it. He loved the feeling. He loved Merlin. And the best thing of this whole thing was that Merlin actually stopped shivering that much. He felt how Merlin buried his head into his neck to steal more warmth from him. And he didn't mind. He was Merlin's best friend and he didn't want him to freeze to death. He wanted him to feel as best as he could, and that was what he was thinking about when he was hugging him. He was making Merlin feel better.

After a couple of minutes Arthur pulled away at last, still holding Merlin's shoulder with his hand. "Better?" He asked him.

Merlin smiled. "Better, thanks."

"Good, now we just have to find Camelot as soon as possible." Arthur added and smiled at Merlin.

"I'm 100% sure that this was the longest hug ever in history of the five kingdoms," Merlin laughed.

"Shut up, Merlin." Arthur said, but he didn't mean it at all. He expected Merlin to really shut up as usual and after a few seconds say something ridiculous again, but that wasn't what Merlin did.

"Or what?" Merlin laughed. Arthur really didn't expect that question and he didn't know what even would he do if Merlin didn't just shut up, because he didn't even expected him to do so. So he just looked at Merlin again and stared into his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but he just couldn't. He couldn't help it, he was just lost in the endless blue of Merlin's eyes and he didn't even want to look away.

There he was again. Staring into Merlin's eyes and not being able to say anything. And that was when he suddenly realized that Merlin wasn't his friend. He meant more than that to him. He was even more than a brother. And he didn't know if he was right, but the first word he thought about when he looked at Merlin was _love_. He quickly thought back at all those times he was with Gwen. Yes, he loved her. He loved her with all his heart, but she betrayed him and he banished her and now he had only Merlin. And when he compared his feelings to Gwen and to Merlin, he realized that it was more often lately that it happened. That Merlin made him feel the same way as Gwen did.

He realized that it wasn't the first time he caught himself staring at Merlin. But usually Merlin didn't notice it or he just didn't say anything. But this time it was different. This time he was staring right into his eyes and Merlin was looking back.

Arthur wasn't sure what his body was doing, but he decided to let it do what it thought was the best. And the best thing was to move closer to Merlin as if he was his magnet, it seemed. But he didn't fight those feelings back anymore. He couldn't. He finally realized something amazing and he just couldn't hold it all back.

He stepped closer to Merlin and closer, still looking into his blue eyes, when he was suddenly closer than ever before. He felt Merlin's breath on his face and it was beautiful. He placed a hand on Merlin's cold cheek, as if it was something strange, something new. And that was when it happened for the first time. Arthur looked at Merlin's lips and couldn't help but lean in and touch them with his own lips. It was just for a second, to find out how it felt like, but the next thing he didn't expect was Merlin, immediately leaning in again and kissing him more. And he didn't complain, he kissed him back. Because why not?

He closed his eyes and smiled into the kiss and enjoyed it as much as he could. He wasn't even sure what was he doing, but he didn't care. He didn't want to deny his feelings anymore, he needed to know if Merlin felt the same way. And now he finally knew that Merlin did. Now he finally knew that Merlin loved him too.

And for the first time in forever, he was happy.


End file.
